Adrenalin Helps

At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon Artist A big scary guy Studio Body Piercing Unlimited Location Anchorage, Alaska

In October of 1999 I had a friend of my drive me to Palmer to pick up my mother so she could come with me to get my nose pierced for the first time because I was too young. I had wanted to get this done for the longest time even though my boyfriend thought it was stupid. Even though I had wanted to get it done for so long it was a spur of the moment thing and since I had told everyone back home that I was going to get my nose pierced I had to. So I couldn't chicken out, but I didn't think I'd really do it. I had so much adrenalin and I was so hyped up that it didn't hurt a bit. It happened so fast. Breathe in breathe out and it's done. It really didn't hurt except for afterwards when it throbbed and when I started playing with it. Since I played basketball I couldn't wear it, so I had to take it out during periods and hand it to someone to hold for a few minutes. I had a girl friend hold the nostril screw and she set it in a CD case inside a coffee case and she lost it somehow. We looked all over the gym...underneath the bleachers and on the floor. I didn't kill her, but I was sad because I felt like I'd lost a part of me.

So just recently on my 18th birthday I went and had my nose pierced again in the same spot at the same place, but with a different piercer. I figured it wouldn't hurt at all again so I sat there all calm, patiently waiting for them to finish their cigarettes, but to my surprise this time it hurt like hell and I think it's only because they made me wait for half an hour and my adrenalin level had gone way down from when I first walked in the door. Just this week I put in a job application at a vet clinic, but in order for me to work there I have to take it out my nostril screw...I haven't gotten the job yet, but I've been trying to take it out for a while and so tonight my boyfriend finally helped me remove it with a wrench and pliers. It had been squeezed so tight against my nostril that it couldn't be pulled it out without stretching the screw. So I take it out and then bend it back and try to put it back in, but it turns out the piercer put the needle in crooked so I have to manover it around to fit it in. I don't know if it's partly because it was pierced in the same spot or if the piercer just messed up with the needle. Anyhow my nose is red and throbbing and also bleeding.

The first time I was pierced it healed really well and I didn't have a problem with infection. I was told to wash it daily with regular scented dial, use a cotton ball twice a day with saline solution on it and to wipe it with a warm washcloth. I did the same for this new one, but it's just being more difficult than the first.

Since I come from a small town in bush Alaska I didn't think people would take too well to me having my nose pierced especially because I was well known among everyone since I was on the radio and active in extracurricular activities in school. I was glad to realize that there were a lot of people including adults that thought it was cool. Everyone just got used to seeing me with it and would ask all the usual questions like, "Did it hurt" and "Where did you get it done." After that one had closed up it left a small dimple that was barely noticeable except when the skin dried up around it. When I moved to Anchorage and had gotten a job at a pet store I knew I wanted to get it done again, but wasn't sure if the boss would like the idea. I went and got it done anyway and fortunately for me he didn't even notice it and if he did he didn't say anything.

I think piercing is addicting, because once you get something pierced you want to do it again. Now I want to pierce my lip, but I don't think that would go good with my boyfriend or my boss and if I get this job i want I couldn't do it anyway. Maybe later on in life I'll do it. I'd get my tongue pierced, but my mother scared me away from doing that. She told me that if the piercer did it wrong they could hit a nerve or something in my tongue and paralyze it. It would be cool, but I don't think so. I would pierce my belly button, but I can't find it. :) I have my ears pierced once on each side, but I don't even wear earrings in them because they get all red and itchy.

My advice to anyone is to repierce it in a different spot and have it done by the same person who did it the first time if possible.